1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a card edge connector for receiving a memory module and more particularly to a card edge connector including means to reduce insertion force of the memory module.
2. Description of Related Art
A card edge connector is used to hold a memory module such as a DDR 3 module and to electrically couple such module to a mother printed circuit board on which the card edge connector is mounted. With the high speed development of the memory module, more and more golden pads are added to the module, correspondingly, the number of terminals of the card edge connector is increased, thereby making it difficult to insert the module into the card edge connector via a linear movement of the module along an up-to-down direction. In order to solve this problem, users are advised to insert one end of the module into a pivot end of the card edge connector firstly, and then rotate the other end of the module downwardly and plug the other end of the module into the other end of the card edge connector, an ejector on the other end of the card edge connector lock with the module finally. However, the ejector may happen to disengage from the module under an accidental vibration, and the module may escape from the card edge connector unexpectedly; besides, the module is easily disengaged from the pivot end when another end of the module is free and not limited by the insulative housing in the rotation process.
The memory module generally includes a key notch on a bottom edge thereof to engage with a key in a central slot of the card edge connector and a pair of locking notches on opposite side edges thereof, one of the locking notches mate with the pivot end, the other one of the locking notches lock with the ejector, that is to say, the memory module is formed with at least three notches, such as DDR2 and DDR3. The key notch on the bottom edge of the memory module engages with the key in the central slot of the card edge connector to ensure the memory module be received in the central slot in a correct way and prevent an unmatched memory module from being inserted in the central slot by a mistake. However, the key notch on the bottom edge holds a space which increases a length of the memory module and increases friction between the memory module and the card edge connector, thereby making it difficult to insert the module into the card edge connector.
Hence, an improved card edge connector is desired to overcome the above problems.